I have a Victron Multiplus II compact and it goes into cycles of shutting off and coming back on when I plug in my Epson printer. I am in a sailboat and if I plug a cable directly from the marina and into my boat and plug the printer in then the printer works fine, but through the Victron it shuts off.. I also have a Victron 3600W isolation tranformer. I have tried both having the Multipluss on charing only and On (through the inverter)
Victron Multiplus II compact shutting off with printer
- Thread starter terjeloe
- Start date
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
I'm not aware of a MP-II compact. Link?
Does it indicate any errors?
What printer?
Does it indicate any errors?
What printer?
Sorry, its a Multiplus Compact.
Printer is brother 2375dw
So I actually got both wrong
Old one was a epson..
I don't have anything to read the codes from it. I want to buy a BT dongle, but haven't yet.
If I unplug the printer everything works fine again.
Printer is brother 2375dw
So I actually got both wrong
Old one was a epson..I don't have anything to read the codes from it. I want to buy a BT dongle, but haven't yet.
If I unplug the printer everything works fine again.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
2000W?
Brother laser printer?
Brothers are pretty notorious for high surge loads. That one claims a peak surge of 1100W, but I suspect it might be even higher for a brief period.
The conditions describe are consistent with surge.... doesn't work on the inverter, but it does direct on shore. If you have wiring or connection issues, they could contribute. I would expect it to work in passthru mode where shore is powering the MP, charging battery and powering loads, but your description indicates this doesn't work.
Brother laser printer?
Brothers are pretty notorious for high surge loads. That one claims a peak surge of 1100W, but I suspect it might be even higher for a brief period.
The conditions describe are consistent with surge.... doesn't work on the inverter, but it does direct on shore. If you have wiring or connection issues, they could contribute. I would expect it to work in passthru mode where shore is powering the MP, charging battery and powering loads, but your description indicates this doesn't work.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Right, and that's what has me stumped. Have you triple checked that every single connection everywhere uses properly sized wire, quality crimps and is properly torqued?
Item #2 in my spoilers.
Will double check.. I've tried the printer on different outlets all around the boat also.. I also have a 2000W 220v oil radiator connected in the boat.. But have turned that off and even disconnected it to see if its due to a startup surge from the printer, but it still happens.
Is the output of your Victron 120vAC or 230vAC? Also is the Brother printer 120vAC or 230vAC? You mentioned an isolation transformer and also a 220vAC radiator load. It is possible you are having a unbalanced leg problem if trying to run the isolation transformer to take your Victron's MP 230vAC output down to 120vAC to power the printer.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
What is the battery system that is powering the mp compact? Victrons usually do fine with surge/startup loads but the battery system has to be able to deliver the amps.
HarryN
Solar Addict
Out of curiosity, does the printer work when it is just plugged into the victron inverter and running from the battery pack?
No shore power connection at all?
The reason that I ask, is that I have seen the same behavior when the shore connection is not stable, so the inverter will not connect.
It might also be related to ground fault detection ? Is there a GFI built into the shore power, as well as the outlet that is fed by from the inverter?
No shore power connection at all?
The reason that I ask, is that I have seen the same behavior when the shore connection is not stable, so the inverter will not connect.
It might also be related to ground fault detection ? Is there a GFI built into the shore power, as well as the outlet that is fed by from the inverter?
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Busy days so slow to reply here.. I have ordered a Victron VE.Bus smart dongle to get some more info from the mp.
Shore power has GFI, I also have a GFI in the boat before going into the isolation transformer.
All is 230vAC
Its 12 280ah eve cells that I have built a 12V 840ah battery. And this happens even when mp is in charge only mode..
I have not tried to disconnect and run it only on the inverter. Will try that, but the shore power should be stable as it runs fine when I connect it directly to shore power as explained. But I will try!
Shore power has GFI, I also have a GFI in the boat before going into the isolation transformer.
Surge on our Brother laser is ridiculous -- something like 1500 watts for a few seconds I've measured. Double check your torque and crimps. Wire gauge if too small to handle surge + other loads could be part of that too if the MP is seeing low voltage cut off (battery to MP)
Actually, my Samlex EVO shuts down when it sees a battery problem even when in charge/passthrough (Note: I don't like that behavior)
A.Fenderson
noob
I just checked my Brother HL-L23000 and peak was 951.8W to turn on and print one page. Good times.
wpns
Solar Joules are catch and release
Yeah, laser printers use heat to fuse the toner to the page, so they have a crazy surge for the duration of the finishing process for every page.
Honestly for a small system use an inkjet.
Honestly for a small system use an inkjet.
The lasers I have had experience with have used a 11" wide halogen bulb as the fuser heat source. That is effectively a DC short for a few mSec when you first fire it up. Nasty, nasty. Like an induction motor but without the inductive reactance.
Most inverter manuals mention lasers as one potential item they may not be able to power. And after having many lasers and many inverters, they are mostly correct in that statement.
My EVO-2224 can run my little HP P1102W, but certain LED bulbs on the same ckt. sometimes flicker.
Even though they suck, as already mentioned, ink jets don't have this problem.
Most inverter manuals mention lasers as one potential item they may not be able to power. And after having many lasers and many inverters, they are mostly correct in that statement.
My EVO-2224 can run my little HP P1102W, but certain LED bulbs on the same ckt. sometimes flicker.
Even though they suck, as already mentioned, ink jets don't have this problem.
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